ENTERING AND ABIDING IN GLORY

Glory is an Eternal nature: God Himself is Glory. Hannah spoke by the Spirit in 1 Samuel 2:2;

there is none Holy as the Lord: For there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. Holiness is Glory and God calls a man Holy when he has become Zero and less than nothing, only an empty vessel can embody the Glory of God’s Holiness. It was John the Baptist that had a glimpse of how God’s holiness becomes the nature of man; He said in John 3:30, He [Jesus Christ] must increase and I must decrease. The “I” here refers to self; that subtle and cunning enemy of Glory that has succeeded in finding his way into the deepest thought, emotion, and attitude of man.

Self is so subtle and deceptive; his works can only be exposed and brought to light when a man sincerely opens up his heart unto God for deep and thorough purging and cleansing. Unless a man surrenders himself to be circumcised and pruned by God, he will never be able to discover the depth of the deception of self. The “I” in men must decrease until it dies completely. Isaiah said; the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? [Jeremiah 17:9, Eccl 9:3, Mark 7:21-23]. The heart in this context is referring to the “I” in men that they might not be aware of or probably hiding it within themselves.

Only God knows the nature of the heart; and until a man willingly surrenders his heart for God’s Holy Light to expose and reveal the hidden desires and character, he will not be able to enter into Glory. Fasting or whatever service we render unto God cannot change the nature of the heart. Prophet Jeremiah stated this clearly in Jeremiah 13:23; Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. For an Ethiopian to change his skin, he must change his nature; and for a leopard to remove his spots, he must receive another nature; so also for the heart to be changed and transformed, it must become new. It is the newness of the heart that transforms the soul, and when the soul is fully transformed the body will change. The change begins in the heart, enters into the soul and ends in the body. When the heart is truly changed the soul and body will be transformed; and when the body is transformed the man will enter into Glory.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is self. Self is the root of all evil, unrighteousness, sin, wickedness, and corruption that exists on earth today. Self is so deceptive and cunning and most times his works are difficult to detect. Just as we have the tree of knowledge of good and evil; so also we have the good and evil self. It was Apostle Paul that threw more light to this in 1 Corinthians 13:3; And though I bestow my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity it profiteth me nothing. Giving to the poor and needy is a good work, but if it is not born out of God’s nature [selfless love]; then it is evil in the sight of God. If it is not done by God’s nature, then it is not good at all; for it to be good, it must be an act of God Himself through us. Isaiah also said; but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we do all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities like the wind, have taken us away. [Isaiah 64:6]. Every right thing we do that is not born out of the nature and character of God are as filthy rags before Him.

For a man to enter into Glory he must have conquered sin, flesh, world, and self. Self is a very subtle and hidden nature in man that loves honour, respect, applaud, accolade, recognition and appreciation, even when he appears not wanting it outwardly. Self is an inward corruption, a posture and position the heart has taken contrary to God’s divine nature. Every good work of man that is not born out of the selfless, divine nature of God is self; it may receive the praise and appraisals of men but will be an abomination in the sight of God. God hates self passionately; self stinks and it’s a stench to God.

The way to conquer self is to die to it; a man must see himself as someone who is dead and buried in reality so as to be eternally free from self; yield and surrender the “I” in you to die and the Lord will reward you with His eternal Glory. In Luke 24:26, the scripture says; Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His Glory? The suffering of Christ was the suffering of a shameful death on the cross; the obedience of Jesus Christ to die on the cross is an example for all who will enter into Glory. There is always a suffering of death to self before entering into Glory. This is the pathway Jesus Christ has set for us to follow, the suffering of death eventually killed the soul of Jesus Christ and made Him insensitive to the world, Jesus Christ died to Himself before dying on the cross. The soul of Jesus Christ was completely dead to the point that He could not feel or react to any situation he went through; His soul was no longer active but eternally passive, and in this passive state God drew Him into Glory. Hallelujah!!!

In Hebrews 2:10, we were made to realize that; For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto Glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Jesus Christ is the captain of our salvation and for Him to bring many sons into the Glory of the Father He must enter into perfection [Glory] through the sufferings of death. There are no two ways to enter into Glory; the death way is the only way. Embrace death, dearly beloved and fall in love with it, for that is the pathway into Glory and Perfection.

In 1 Peter 2:21-23; Peter said, For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, he threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. Jesus Christ has given us a way to follow if we must enter into the same Glory He entered. We enter into Glory when we fall in love with death, and we abide in Glory by abiding in death.